Christmas light display set to music at Hampton home

HAMPTON — On Belmont Circle, everyone has the same favorite radio station. That's because through months of work, one spirited handyman has added a visual element to 93.5 FM.

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By Nick B. Reid

seacoastonline.com

By Nick B. Reid

Posted Dec. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Nick B. Reid

Posted Dec. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

HAMPTON — On Belmont Circle, everyone has the same favorite radio station. That's because through months of work, one spirited handyman has added a visual element to 93.5 FM.

Jack Derba, of 18 Belmont Circle, has for years transformed not just his yard but his two neighbors' yards into a flashing, dancing, perfectly synchronized light show to go along with the Christmas songs he's broadcasting on that frequency from his house about halfway down the dead-end street.

The darting display is the product of a computer program and a great deal of careful programming by Derba. He said the program does all the work, but he is the conductor that tells the star above his porch to kick in with the crash of a cymbal, and the blue lights roped around the trunk of a large tree to spin with a guitar solo, and each column on his porch to light up in succession.

"We've been doing this for a bunch of years now, so it's not as difficult as it used to be," Derba said. "It used to take all year."

These days, he starts programming toward the end of summertime and starts putting up decorations and lights at the end of October. The four tunes this year, which play on a loop on the radio, are the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizards in Winter" and "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo," as well as "The Grinch" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

It was in 2007 that Derba, who creates the display with the help of his wife and son, first challenged himself to create the elaborate scene. He said he saw a popular commercial on TV that did something similar and so the idea began.

"It became a challenge to see if we could do that, and it's just kind of snowballed since then," Derba said.

Now, on any given evening, cars can be seen pulling over and drivers shutting their lights off and watching. When one song ends, the scene goes dark and the cars begin to pull away — until the next one starts with its own accompaniment.

"Kids absolutely love it," Derba said. "We get cards every year from people saying how much they enjoyed the show."

"Occasionally, if my wife's home she'll go out and give candy canes to the kids. She puts on a little Christmas hat and off she goes," he said.

Derba, who's been living in Hampton for 25 years and once studied electronics, leading to his present hobby, has won honors a couple of times from the Department of Parks and Recreation for having the best display in town. But for him, the thing was borne out of a challenge that — it's safe to say — he's accomplished.